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India shuts down telegram service

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India's state-run telecommunications company said revenue had declined

The service has been overtaken by SMS, e-mail and Twitter

Indians awoke on Monday to find their 162-year-old telegram service rendered obsolete, superseded by SMS, e-mail and Twitter.

Arguably one of the oldest victims of the digital age, telegrams were the fastest communication method from the 19th century.

But Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-run telecommunications company, announced online that "declining revenues" motivated their decision to end the service.

They added that their employees would be transferred to their landline, mobile and broadband divisions.

It comes as no real surprise when even the mail has seen better days. The U.S. postal service lost $16 billion in 2012 and $1.9 billion in the three months ending March 30. It also used up a $15 billion loan from the Treasury.

In Britain, telegrams came to an end in 1982 and the queen now sends cards instead of the famous telegram congratulating centenarians and those celebrating diamond wedding anniversaries.

The first ever telegram read: "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?" and was sent from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1844 in Morse Code from Washington to Baltimore.

The telegram: Notable moments 18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A derelict name board for the Bangalore Telegraph office lies on the ground outside the premises in Bangalore, India, on June 13, 2013. On July 15, 2013, the Indian government will discontinue the 162-year-old service.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – An employee displays an antique telegraph transmitter key (right), which the operator used to send messages via Morse Code, and a telegraph receiver (left).

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – Indian telegram messenger Om Dutt, 56, wheels his bicycle at the Central Telegraph Office in New Delhi. BSNL said their telegram messengers will be transferred to their landline, mobile and broadband departments.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – Employees feed in telegram messages onto computers to be sent via telegram in Bangalore on June 13.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – Rubber stamps at the Central Telegraph Office in New Delhi on July 10.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A handwritten telegram from Abraham Lincoln to General McClellan during the American Civil War is seen at Sotheby's auction house on April 8, 2010 in New York. Lincoln tells McClellan in the telegram that "...you must either attack Richmond, or give up the job and come to the defense of Washington."

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A handwritten note from Marilyn Monroe to Marlon Brando and his return telegram are on display at Bonhams & Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles, California, on December 14, 2006. The note from Marilyn read: "Dear Marlon, I need your opinion about a plan... please phone me as soon as possible. Time is of the essence, Marilyn."

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A telegram sent by actor Cary Grant to the late Sophia Loren is on display at the exhibition "Scicolone, Lazzaro, Loren" dedicated to the career of the Italian actress, at the Vittoriano on April 6, 2006 in Rome, Italy.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A telegram to a jailed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from boxer Muhammad Ali is displayed at Sotheby's auction house on June 21, 2006 in New York City. The collection included more than 10,000 manuscripts and books from the most active years of Dr. King's life, from 1946 to 1968.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – An original Western Union telegram from Louis Armstrong is seen at the new headquarters of Jazz at Lincoln Center on February 17, 2005 in New York City.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A telegram to Dr. Martin Luther King from Robert F. Kennedy invites King to attend the funeral services for President Kennedy and was on display at Sotheby's in New York City on August 28, 2003.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – March 23, 1954: American singer Nat King Cole (1919 - 1965) reads congratulatory telegrams with comedian Henny Youngman after the success of their debut at the London Palladium.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – General Post Office workers circa 1952 transmit and receive telegram messages over the phone, transcribing them directly by means of a typewriter.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A telegram stall on a city street on 11 January, 1941.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – A soldier uses a comrade's hat to lean on as he writes a telegram home circa 1940.

The telegram: Notable moments – Telegraph boys line up to receive telegrams for delivery at the Central Telegraph Office in London, where 50,000,000 telegrams were processed every year. The telegram service stopped operating in the UK in 1982.

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The telegram: Notable moments18 photos

The telegram: Notable moments – 1909: American Robert E Peary's famous telegram that read: "Stars and stripes nailed to the North Pole." The picture is copied from The New York Times.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Unlike letters, many telegrams had the unique characteristic of typed capital letters and an abrupt "STOP" to mark the end of a sentence. They were usually sent to congratulate, commiserate, or deliver money or urgent news.

Possibly one of the most notable tragedies to be conveyed was the sinking of the Titanic ship in 1912. Bruce Ismay, the head of the ship's owners White Star Line, sent this message to the headquarters in New York: "Deeply regret advise your Titanic sunk this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg resulting serious loss life further particulars later."

The shortest ever message was sent by Oscar Wilde (or, according to other sources, Victor Hugo) to his publisher, enquiring about the sales of his latest novel: "?" wrote the author. "!" replied his publisher.

Many discovered the comical possibilities of such an exchange. American author Mark Twain served a witty one-liner to London in 1897 when his obituary had apparently been published: "THE REPORTS OF MY DEATH ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED."

And if a message was misunderstood, humor ensured that all was not lost: "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?" a reporter questioned the actor. "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?" was his supposed quip.

And it's not just email, SMS or social media that make some of us inexcusably lazy to talk to someone in the same room. British actor Peter Sellers' wife Anne answered the door to a couriered message from her husband ordering her to bring him a cup of coffee. He was in the upstairs study. And he didn't even add a "please" or a "thank you."

His explanation could have been that words were of the essence in a telegram, since they were charged. However, 10-15 words sometimes cost the same as a single word.

In a handy booklet called: "How To Write Telegrams Properly" published in 1929, Nelson E. Ross set out telegram etiquette, including an appeal to preserve politeness, regardless of word count:

"A man high in American business life has been quoted as remarking that elimination of the word 'please' from all telegrams would save the American public millions of dollars annually," wrote Ross.

"'Please' is to the language of social and business intercourse what art and music are to everyday, humdrum existence.

"By all means let us retain the word 'please' in our telegraphic correspondence."

Telegrams marked moments in history or lives and are carefully preserved by individuals, framed in museums, or auctioned to collectors. Many even rushed to telegraph offices on Sunday in India to send a souvenir telegram to their families and friends, or even themselves.

But all may not be lost: some global telegram companies are still in operation, even offering iPhone apps to update the service. Also, in Argentina, employees are required to send a telegram when resigning.

However, although Twitter may not have the same permanence or command as its predecessor, its success speaks of its convenience: "Last January [2011], we had 6.86 million followers; today, at the end of December [2012], you are 15.4 million strong," boasts Twitter on their blog.

Compare this to around 5,000 telegrams sent by BSNL in India a day and it is easy to see how far they lag behind.